Sacrifices
by Likefiftychai
Summary: A leader will make any sacrifice they can for their team, their friends. Even if it means becoming the thing they feared most.


"Raimundo-" Chase was halted as a closed fist was set in front of his face, dangling from it was a shiny object. Raimundo's medallion. Stunned, he cupped his hand beneath it as the metal hit his fingers, still warm from being around Raimundo's neck.

"You're our leader, and I know you don't want to do this... I'm not going to let you make this mistake again." Before anyone could stop him, Raimundo tilted the bowl back, drinking the foul, old soup in a few gulps. The bowl clattered to the floor of the cage, Raimundo held his head and groaning that turned into growling as his skin morphed, his entire body shifted. Wings spurted from his back, a long white scaled tail falling to the floor. His face contorted, his eyes changed into a dark, swamp green. His entire body changed into white, green and black scales, striping across his entire form. A loud, almost in pained yell rang out as one side of the cage exploded, letting Raimundo soar through, and leaving the others watching in silence.

"Well." His fist tightened around the necklace. "We better get going." He clasped it around his neck, tucking it under his robe.

"Chase-" Kimiko was cut off as he jumped to the stone floor, easily dodging the large jungle cats. The monks, and Jack, shared a worried look as they followed behind him.

"Chase, are you-" Jack reached out, but Chase disappeared from his reach as he sprinted down the hall. Sighing, Jack followed, lagging behind the others.

"Chase, if you're upset it's best not to-"

"My emotions are not our focus right now Kimiko. We need to find Omi and fix the timelines." She shrunk a bit, his voice was cold and desolate of any emotion. None of them had seen him like this before, honestly it was terrifying.

"Omi, where did you freeze yourself?" Omi looked up, a bit startled as he'd been lost in thought.

"Oh- below the garden. Where the Heylin Seed is hidden." Chase nodded, his mind running through the temple lay out. Thankfully, living there for a thousand years had left him with plenty of knowhow, he sped down one hallway and another, the other four doing their best to keep up.

In moments he jumped, landing in front of the frozen warrior and the Eye of Dashi. He reached to grab it, but the other side was also met with another hand. The wu glowed, and as Chase feared, looking up only confirmed who he knew had grabbed it. His eyes squinted into a glare, staring up at the repulsive dragon form he'd once known.

"Thank you all so much for the gift. Never expected to have him on board." Hannibal chuckled darkly, the monks glared as they Heylin warlords watched amused. "How about a test run."

"I challenge you to a Xiaolin showdown." His voice was deeper, it was echoed by a dark growling. " I wager my sword of the storm against your third arm sash. First one to fall out of the ring loses."

"I accept you challenge." His face didn't change, even as the surrounding area morphed. A large, round platform raised up, the ground uneven with jutting rocks and deep crevices littering the surface. The audience, consisting of the three monks, Jack, Wuya, Hannibal and Guan all stood in their respective groups, having their own platforms not too far from each other.

"Gong Yi Tenpai!" Was cried, the second it was Raimundo flew high into the air, grinning at his advantage. He dived down, aiming to attack. Chase jumped out of the way, landing on top of one of the many rock structures.

"You'll have to try harder than that to beat me." Raimundo glared up at him, his wings spread as he rocketed towards Chase, only to miss again. He'd ducked behind another formation, waiting for Raimundo's next move. He peered around the stones only to see nothing, blinking in confusion until a shadow casted over him. His head snapped up, just in time to see Raimundo heading straight for him. He rolled out of the way, Raimundo barely able to keep from crashing as he did.

"Third Arm Sash!" The metal fingers grabbed Raimundo's tail, only to be yanked and pulled, stretching as the wearer tried to stay put.

"You really think this is enough?" Raimundo stopped, turning the grab the blue material. He yanked it forward, jumping as Chase flew past him and collided with a rather large stack of rocks.

"Give up now." He dropped the cloth, walking towards him. Chase stood, wobbling as he tossed a small boulder, only to have it punched into dust. "It's no use. I'm stronger than you now. I'm faster than you now."

"I'm better than you'll ever be." Guan towered over Chase's battered figure. "The weak, pathetic person you knew is gone."

"And soon, you will be too." As a cold, scaled fist shot towards him, it was caught. Chase balanced himself, glaring at the person he once cared for so deeply.

"Getting so angry. You let your emotions get the better of you Chase. Is this what you did back then too?" His shoulders tensed, teeth clenching and anger seething through. Raimundo smirked, flipping him onto his back and standing over him. "You're nothing anymore. You never were. You can't even take me down- you taught me everything I know and you still can't defeat me. No wonder Guan chose this. You're a disgrace." He reached down, but before he could grab Chase he'd been tossed to the ground, landing on his wings with sickening crack. Without a word, the fight was back on, more and more power behind each of Chase's attacks. Raimundo was backed to the edge, his wing twisted into a disturbing position, one that meant he wouldn't be able to save himself.

"Even if you win, he won't come back!" Chase stopped mid punch, his eyes glazing over, staring in stunned, heart wrenching silence. "It doesn't matter what you do, even if you get the other timeline back- you'll be evil there! You'll be the one on THIS side." His hand dropped, hair falling in front of his face. Shaking, Chase took a step back. Raimundo grinned, about to grab the other and end the showdown.

"I know." Raimundo blinked. The pendant sparkled, twisting in Chase's fingers.

"It never does." One swift, unexpected kick to the chest, Raimundo plummeted down, even using the sword of the storm didn't save him. The area returned to normal, Chase holding the eye of Dashi. Before anyone could say anything, he called out its name and watched as the ice melted away.

Raimundo glowered at him, reality began to shift as everything was beginning to return to normal. Chase held tightly to the small metal medallion, hoping that if he remembered one thing, if one thing made it through for him, that this was it. That Raimundo, those emotions that he knew his alternate- his real self had lost, that those stayed. For both of them.

A bright flash, and he was gone. He'd been gone for fifteen hundred years, in this case, of course all involved knew better.

The medallion glistened in the false light of Chase's throne room, he watched it with a glazed over expression. How had he obtained this anyway? Wasn't it Pedrosa's?

A voice nagged at the back of his mind about it. He ignored it, just as he'd done before the events. That voice had no place in his life now. Especially when it whispered of feelings for Pedrosa. Ugh.

Though, he couldn't completely ignore what those words lead him to think about.


End file.
